The Glass Door Incident*

I sometimes like to think of myself as a swan of sorts.

However, being a swan now means that I was once an ugly duckling… with a bright future of becoming a swan, of course. I was not one of those “prissy” girls that has cared about her appearance since 6 years of age. In fact, I don’t even think I became aware of what my outer appearance looked like to other people until grade 9 or 10. Which is why I allowed myself to wear these glasses and think that they were cool.*sigh* Was I ever that young?

They were my first pair. I got them just before the beginning of grade 6 when my aunt caught me squinting at the TV. They survived everything. They were lost. They were banged. They were dinged. And they were even run over by the original Vanimal. They were my tank glasses… and I like to blame them for the following incident.

My grandparents own a time share at a beautiful 5 star resort in Florida. It’s beautiful… there are 15 pools, 2 lakes, basketball courts, tennis courts, mini-golf–you name it, it’s there. The resort is comprised of a number of organized villas that are also beautiful. Inside there is a master bedroom complete with a jacuzzi, a kitchen with laundry, a spacious living room with leather couches and a big screen TV, other bedrooms, a loft, and a balcony. I have been over 10 – 12 times, but I still am excited to be there each and every time I go.

One year I was a little more excited than others.

It was the year that Peeah had invited her first “real” boyfriend (Man-With-Two-First-Names) to come with us, and also my first year with my new cool glasses. The drive from the Great White North to where we stay in Florida is roughly 32 hours if you drive straight through without stopping. As we were in a van with 9 people of course this didn’t happen and the trip took 2 or 3 days. Being a 12 year old girl (who happened to have a crush on her older sister’s boyfriend) I was naturally reeeeeeeeally excited to finally arrive at our beautiful, sunny destination.

When we entered the city, I was excited. When we drove through the entrance to the resort, I was bouncing. When we exited the Vanimal and walked towards our villa, I was skipping. This was Man-With-Two-First-Names’ first time to the resort with us, and I had decided that I would be his personal tour guide. As we walked into the villa we were joined by several members of our extended family who also come down to enjoy the time share. It’s like a mini-family-reunion of sorts.

As we filed through the doors into the villa, I immediately scanned the villa for the coolest thing to show him. Living room? Nah. Loft? Nah. Balcony with a great view? YES. After making my way inside, I began skipping/running as fast as I could toward this balcony… lured by the view of sparkling pool water and sunshine. So, I’m run-skipping toward this balcony singing,

“We’re here! We’re here! We’re…” *BAM*

I could feel the closed glass door shaking and vibrating as my face slid down toward the floor. As I lay in a heap on the floor those watching burst into laughter (after realizing that I hadn’t broken the door or my face) and my mother rushed to my side to help me up. Still slightly confused about what had happened, my mother turned me to face a giant blue sticker that was stuck on the door with my face print beside it. As my face burned with embarrassment, so did my forehead and I ran to the bathroom to discover a goose egg the size of a golf ball quickly forming on my forehead.

…when I left the bathroom my siblings were already imitating my skip-run to the door complete with face print, which they continue to do to this day. haha! Needless to say, I didn’t win Man-With-Two-First-Names away from Peeah. *sigh*

In my defense, the doors were really clean. I blame the glasses.

Shop Girl*